The Blog at MSPC

Highway infrastructure is funded primarily at the state and federal level, with every state in the country levying a tax on gasoline and diesel fuel, ranging from $0.0895 per gallon in Alaska to $0.629 per gallon sold in California.

While funds may be temporarily paused for the nearly 4,000 families approved to receive education savings account funding in Wyoming pending judicial review, they should not lose hope.

Mountain States Policy Center (MSPC) is proud to announce the official launch of the Bill & Milly Kay Baldwin Center for Education, a new research and advocacy hub focused on expanding educational opportunity and defending student-centered policy reforms throughout the Mountain West.

In June, Governor Gianforte praised the new federal guidelines that eliminate “needless obstacles” that the previous administration had put in place. This policy shift makes it easier for Montana to use its $629 million in BEAD funds more efficiently and effectively, particularly in the state’s unserved and underserved areas.

In most respects, Idaho and Montana have been enthusiastic in their pursuit of tax competitiveness. But if there’s one area of tax policy on which they are worse than their peers, it’s in their incorporation of GILTI—the federal tax on Global Intangible Low-Taxed Income—into their own state tax codes. Not even California or Illinois does that.

Government officials who damage private property must pay for what they ruin ruled the Wyoming Supreme Court unanimously last week in Thomas Hamann v. Heart Mountain Irrigation District.

Most Americans are unaware that the National Education Association (NEA) — the nation’s largest teachers’ union — enjoys a rare privilege: a federal charter granted by Congress in 1906. That puts the NEA in the same elite company as storied civic institutions like the American Red Cross, the Boy Scouts of America, and the U.S. Olympic Committee.

Taxpayers across Washington state have had a rough go as of late. New gas taxes, increased capital gains income taxes, and higher B&O taxes are hitting the wallets of many across the Evergreen State.

AI is transforming how we produce, consume, and distribute information. Tools powered by artificial intelligence can accelerate research, summarize gigantic data sets, write papers, and demystify for others how algorithms that analyze us work.

The Gem State’s current budget has a decent ending fund balance, substantial budget reserves on hand, and many important fiscal tools available should the economic outlook for the state and country change.

Today, miners are well informed about the risks surrounding uranium mining, and many steps are taken to protect workers from its effects.

the Washington State Supreme Court has given its official blessing to a secretive process that allows the offers and counteroffers leading to more than a billion dollars in taxpayer-funded compensation to remain secret until after the state budget is signed into law.

The full implementation of HB 93 (school choice tax credit) is moving forward, and families are invited to register for an online webinar on August 19 or an in-person seminar in Boise on August 26 to learn more about how to apply for the tax credit.

Despite claims that “the sky is falling,” the Medicaid reforms are actually a start at guaranteeing that the program will survive into the future and be available for the country’s most vulnerable people.

Add outrageous cell phone taxes to the major financial difference between living in states like Idaho and Montana, versus Washington state.

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

The fireworks of July 4 celebrate the ideals of liberty and equality. But July 2 was when independence truly began—when courage triumphed over fear, and a group of revolutionaries voted to create a new nation.

Our perspective focused on facilitating innovative technologies while adopting responsible safeguards with necessary human oversight.

For years, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has ignored the pleas of states wanting to study the implications of removing Sugar Sweetened Beverages (SSBs) from Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits in small pilot programs. Though many studies incentivizing improved nutritional choices have been approved by the USDA.

Congress is currently debating the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Among the many provisions is a ten-year moratorium on state Artificial Intelligence (AI) regulations to help avoid a patchwork of rules.